Learning Diary Entry 3

Data collecting techniques


Feeling incredibly behind and unprepared, wishing I could attend the campus sessions but unable to do so, I turned to Abbi’s blog in the hope that she could enlighten me on what has been happening in the recent campus sessions as I often feel she is very much on top of things. However I learnt that she too seems to be rather swept off her feet at the moment and so was grateful when she suggested Sophie’s blog as being well informed and helpful to read.

It seems, from reading Sophie’s blog that the focus of Campus Session 3 was on identifying and learning about the different research tools. Three of them were discussed in depth; Questionnaires, Interviews and Observations.


Questionnaires

A Questionnaire is:

‘A prepared set of questions designed to generate data necessary for accomplishing the objectives of the research project’ (http://www.glencoe.com/)

‘Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardised answers that make it simple to compile data. However such standardized answers may frustrate users. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical. As a type of survey, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating to question construction and wording that exist in other types of opinion polls.’ (Wikipedia.org)

References:

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/busadmin/marketing/dp/mktg_resrch/gloss.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questionnaire

http://sophiejgilbert.blogspot.com/2010/03/learning-diary-entry-4.html


Interviews

‘An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.’ (Wikipedia.org)

‘Interviews provide in-depth information about a particular research issue or question. Because the information is not quantifiable (i.e., not amenable to statistical analysis), the interview often is described as a qualitative research method. Whereas quantitative research methods (e.g., the experiment) gather a small amount of information from many subjects, interviews gather a broad range of information from a few subjects’. (www-usr.rider.edu)

References:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_interview

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/interviews.html#whatis

http://abbiwilliams.blogspot.com/2010/03/ways-of-collecting-data.html


Observations

‘Observation methods have been developed with the objective of observing people in their natural setting – as they go about their everyday lives’. They can ‘overcome some of the criticisms of quantitative research methods (Validity, bias etc.) and can be useful when its subject can't provide information, or can only provide inaccurate information’. (Information by Design Ltd)

‘Non participant observation is where the researcher observes behaviour from a distance without interacting with the subject being studied.’(Information by Design Ltd)
‘Participant observation involves the researcher participating in the daily life of an individual, group or community and listening, observing, questioning and understanding (or trying to understand) the life of the individuals concerned.’ (Judith Bell, 2005:p186)

Unstructured observation is often conducted by researchers who ‘generally do so because although they may have a clear idea of the purpose of the observation, they may not be so clear about the detail. They are prepared to spend sufficient time on fieldwork, familiarization and accumulation of data, from which they anticipate that focus and structure will emerge’. (Punch 1998: p186)

A researcher using structured observation has already decided on the focus rather than allowing the focus to emerge. However they will already have formulated a hypothesis or identified the objectives of their study and the importance of observing some aspect of behaviour will have become apparent.

References:

Information By Design. Ltd, NHS, Date unknown: South East Public Health Observatory Lifestyle Survey Toolkit. http://www.lifestylesurvey.org.uk/observation.html

Judith Bell (1995:p186) ‘Doing your Research Project’

Punch (1998:p186) cited in Judith Bell (2005:p185) ’Doing your Research Project’

From looking at both Abbi and Sophie’s blogs, (which were both very helpful so thank you girls!), looking at the slide shows on Paula and Rosemary’s blogs and reading the appropriate sections in Judith Bell’s book, I think I have acquired a much better understanding of what data collection techniques are available to me and which ones will be of most use for collecting information on my project topic. Although I will almost certainly be devising a questionnaire to collect some of my primary data, I think that already the ‘semi structured’ interview method that is mentioned in both Paula’s slide show and Bell’s book is looking like a strong contender for my main data collecting tool. I understand that there is a huge amount to consider before making any definite decisions so I plan to continue making notes and to consult a checklist of pros and cons so I can fully understand what I’ll be taking on and hopefully do it to the best of my ability.